


Love like Stardust

by Vaders_Apprentice



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Cartoon), Guardians of the Galaxy (Comics), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ??? - Freeform, Action & Romance, Adventure & Romance, Aliens, Angst and Romance, Astronomical Poetry, Awkward Romance, BAMF Gamora, BAMF Peter Quill, Bigotry & Prejudice, Cage Trauma, Childhood Trauma, Coping, Dance Metaphors, Declarations Of Love, Discrimination, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dorks in Love, Dysfunctional Family, Epic Poetry, Essays, Extended Metaphors, F/M, Falling In Love, False Identity, Family, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Issues, First Love, Freeform, Friendship/Love, Gamora needs a hug, Gen, Good Peter, Guardians Family, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - Freeform, Guardians of the Galaxy - Freeform, Harm to Children, Healing, Hell Trauma, Historical Metaphors, Human, Humanity, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Quill, Hurt gamora, Identity, Identity Issues, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inhumanity, Inspired by Poetry, Interspecies Romance, Kid Gamora, Kid Peter Quill, Loss of Identity, Love, Love Confessions, Love Like Stardust, Love at First Sight, Math and Science Metaphors, Medical Trauma, Metaphors, Nice Gamora, Nice Peter, POV Alternating, POV Gamora, POV Male Character, POV Peter Quill, POV Third Person, Peter Quill Feels, Peter Quill Needs a Hug, Peter-centric, Poetry, Post-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Pre-Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Prejudice Agains Terrans, Protective Gamora (Marvel), Protective Peter Quill, Psychological Trauma, Ravagers - Character, Ravagers - Freeform, Referenced Captain America, Referenced Steve Rogers, References to Depression, Romance, Romantic Angst, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Romantic Gestures, Romantic Soulmates, Scared Gamora, Scared Peter Quill, Slow Romance, Star-Lord - Character - Freeform, Star-Lord - Freeform, Team as Family, Trauma, True Love, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unresolved Romantic Tension, prejudice against humans, romantic, thanos - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 10:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14691897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaders_Apprentice/pseuds/Vaders_Apprentice
Summary: 'Run for the heavensSing to the starsLove like a loverShine in the dark'-Burning heart, by SvrcinaPeter Quill has spent his whole life wondering what he is as he wanders the galaxy. Gamora has spent her entire life trying to become something better than the creature Thanos forced her to become.Now they're free.Now they're together, falling in love, building a future and an identity as Guardians.





	Love like Stardust

**Author's Note:**

> So, the first line makes it pretty clear I set out to write romantic fluff. But you know how sometimes a story just takes over? How words just flow through your mind and takes you and your characters on journeys you never thought to take? How you end up with something startlingly different from what you intended, yet all the more beautiful by being allowed to run wild? 
> 
> That's what happened here, to me, and above all, to this story. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Peter falls in love with Gamora the same way he does everything else: intensely and wholeheartedly. For despite his reputation for ‘loving and leaving’, despite the impulsive urges he often gives into, despite the slightly ridiculous aura that hangs around him like a cloud, he does not get attached easily.

And how could he not, with the mess he calls his life? With the mother who died, the _space-pirates_ who kidnapped him off of Earth and took him in, the utter disdain he incurs just for openly flaunting his species? Because in this galaxy, being Terran is to be different. Strange. _Other_. 

So he wears the Ravager coat like he was born to it, travels the galaxy until he is covered in space dust, becomes everything people expect from an eccentric sometime-outlaw, and he evolves beyond who he had been.

Yet somehow, he still manages to retain that fascination with the world. He knows he can’t hide being something out of the ordinary so he makes that his trademark. His brand, if you will, is a defensive act from the very start. But he ensures no one else sees that.

Star-Lord, the Terran. Star-Lord, the master thief. Star-Lord, the infamous outlaw. Star-Lord, the mask created by the little boy once known as Peter Quill.

And then one day, he meets people. Connects with them, has adventures, saves the world like he’d always dreamed when he was a little kid reading Captain America comics and staring at the sky and the stars wondering _What’s out there?_ as he listened to stories from his grandfather and hearing for the thousandth time how the man had _met_ the Captain, after one of his shows as a kid.

He _becomes_ the hero he’d always admired, and he’s not sure how to deal with that. Being a Legend? Sure. An Outlaw? Why not? Infamous? Yes, please. But a Hero? Allowing Star-Lord to be more than a persona, more than a reputation to hide behind, more than a mask? He doesn’t have a clue.

But then he sees Gamora, who he’d lightly flirted with, laughed and screamed and sobbed and saved a planet alongside, having just as much trouble. So he says to her, _I don’t have any idea what we’re collectively doing, but do you want to find out together?_ , and she smiles.

She takes his hand.

And in the moment she says _Yes_ , he falls. 

Because he does not love easily. He loved his mother, yes. Yondu was a father to him. The other ravagers a scattered foster family, reminding him painfully of the tattered remnants of blood relations he might still have on Earth. But Gamora is a _choice_ , and that makes all the difference. He’s flirted with her, but it’s no game anymore. They’ve danced, and he twirls her to his _mixtape_ as he sings along to the lyrics and she laughs and they occasionally lean in to kiss.

They’re not chemicals, not machines, not heirs or proginators to any legacy they didn’t choose for themselves. They’re just people. He’s finally figuring out how allow himself to be Star-Lord, the Guardian. She’s at last finding herself, beneath all of the layers of dust and blood Thanos forced her to build when he ‘adopted’ her. 

They’re finally free.

They’re just Peter and Gamora, slowly falling into the infinite depths of space together. They’re not only human, not only alien, not simply a pair of criminals connected by circumstance. 

Their story is no longer a duet between strangers who crossed paths like ricocheting comets leaving stardust and supernovas in their wake.

They are two people in love.

(And that makes all the difference.)

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did you think? I wanted to write romance, and I did end up with that, but I wasn't expecting to encounter headcanons about Peter's identity issues concerning Star-Lord, or Gamora and her difficulties in embracing freedom. But that's what happens, in the best stories. The ones where you think, _That isn't what I planned_ and the characters respond, _But that's the story that needs to be told_ , and the result is truly incredible. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, so please leave kudos, comments, and critiques. Thank you for reading! :)


End file.
